The wonder of libraries - and librarians
The 2026 cohort of GLL Literary Foundation authors at Battersea Library in London
For this tiny, independent publisher, it’s a been a busy few days!
I recently spent a wonderful afternoon at Battersea Library in south London, with the next cohort of the GLL Literary Foundation authors - included amongst them our own Cheryl Diane Parkinson, author of Last Girl In (Cheryl’s second middle grade book will follow soon!). It was a real pleasure to nominate Cheryl for this Award and I couldn’t be prouder that she has been accepted. (In this photo Cheryl is looking fabulous, right in the centre, wearing a floral floor length dress).
Quality books for children
The GLL Literary Award was founded to support promising children’s authors in their careers - to encourage them to flourish and to create closer ties between quality authors, that librarians want to hear more from. I think it is an excellent counter weight to “publishing by numbers” - the sort of uninspiring children’s books that can gain so much traction by virtue of big budget promotions. Librarians are top tier champions of quality children’s fiction - they really are the experts, not just on the quality of what’s being published - but just as importantly on what children are drawn to, and really want to read.
A children’s reading revolution
Last month I attended a very different event: the London Book Fair. It’s a gathering of the great and the good in publishing, where people from many countries meet to do deals - translation rights, merchandising rights, distribution deals and so on. That’s really the core business of the London Book Fair, and it can sometimes feel like a culture clash - corporate, glitzy, noisy - compared with the world of indie publishers, local booksellers, lovely libraries and most importantly, child readers.
Me, having fun at this year’s London Book Fair
So for me it was an excellent choice (once all my meetings were done) to attend a talk titled: “How can libraries and bookshops fuel a children’s reading revolution” featuring (amongst others) children’s authors Donna David and Bobby Seagull and Rebecca Gediking, head of the GLL Literary Foundation (and head of GLL Libraries).
Children are choosing to read less - the theme of the talk was: how can we work together, to encourage them to read more?
The panel came up with some excellent points. I was struck particularly by Rebecca Gediking’s observation that libraries are “connectors of people” - that they support authors, parents, publishers and of course children.
What do children want to read about: dinosaurs, cars ..?
Bobby Seagull said that one way to encourage children to read is make books about what they’re already interested in - using football as an example. It’s a tactic that we have employed here - our Fantastic Electric Mash-Up Machines - is a lovely illustrated chapter book to tempt children who love all things cars and machines to enjoy a fun read. And of course, we have a Secret Dinosaur series too - there aren’t many children who don’t like dinosaurs!
But that also takes us right back to libraries and librarians - what better way to encourage reading than to take children to a free place, with book experts who can tell you all about the vast range of fantastic children’s books that there are (not only those with the big budget promotions behind them). Because the many of the most popular and well known children’s books are great - but many of the lesser known ones are too, and that might just be the book that genuinely appeals!
So, here’s to more libraries and more librarians!